Ron Delorme of the Vancouver Canucks fights to hold back tears as he's presented a blanket from Fred Sasakamoose, left, during a Star Blanket ceremony with the Beardy's First Nation. The blanket was to honour Delorme and his accomplishments.Sheri Trapp / Saskatchewan Hockey Association

No story was moved with the picture. Then again none was required.

Ron Delorme, the longtime Vancouver Canucks scout, is pictured being inducted into the Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame at the Credit Union iPlex in Swift Current. To his left is 84-year-old Fred Sasakamoose, the first Canadian Indigenous person to play in the NHL and Delorme’s boyhood hero.

Sasakamoose is part of a ceremony organized by Beardy’s First Nation, Delorme’s First Nations community. As part of that ceremony, Delorme has been presented with a star blanket, an honour bestowed on the most respected members of the Aboriginal community.

Delorme, one of the toughest players to ever wear a Canucks uniform, is wrapped in that blanket. And he’s in tears.

“When you wrap him in a star blanket it means he’s in the stars; he’s been lifted up to the ancestors and he’s now honoured with them,” says longtime Delorme friend Peter Leech of the Halaw Group, a company that promotes First Nations business opportunities.

“We spoke to him right after the ceremony. He’s a leader for us and we told him that. He found it overwhelming.”

As did the man’s many friends.

Delorme, the 62-year-old Canucks institution by way of North Battleford, has spent 36 years in the organization as a player, scout and administrator. In the team’s history, his service is matched only by Stan Smyl and he’s a deeply respected figure in the scouting world.

Unfortunately, that’s only part of Delorme’s history with the Canucks. Given the team’s uneven drafting record, he’s become something of a polarizing figure among the faithful. For the last 18 years he’s been the team’s chief amateur scout, and the former hard-rock winger has borne a lot of the criticism for the Canucks’ suspect drafting.

This helps explain why he’s shut himself off from the media, even during his moment of triumph last weekend.

But there’s a larger story involved with Delorme, one that transcends first-round hits and misses and cuts to the heart of the man. Throughout his career with the Canucks, he’s been a tireless advocate for First Nations people, organizing hockey camps and leadership programs while mentoring countless young players.

That’s why he was honoured in Swift Current by the game and his people. And that’s why he was touched to the core of his being.

“He’s opened many doors for First Nations players,” says Leech. “And if he can’t do it at the NHL level, he’ll try at the minor-league level. Anything to help a kid get ahead.”

Delorme, in fact, has held camps all over Western Canada, predominantly in Saskatchewan but also in B.C. and Manitoba. He’s helped by a core group that has included former NHLers Gino Odjick, Sheldon Souray, Jordin Tootoo, Arron Asham and others. Delorme, inevitably, is the driving force behind the initiatives.

“He’s like the elder,” says Leech. “We look at him the way he looked at Fred (a junior star in Moose Jaw who played 11 games with the Black Hawks in the 1953-54 season). He has a hard time believing that, but he’s been a role model to a lot of people.”

That’s both in and out of the game. Delorme first starting scouting for the Canucks in ’86 and has been a presence in the organization since. He’s also a made man in the scouting community, an interesting confederacy of hockey lifers and hard men who are devoted to the game and each other.

“I can’t say enough good things about the guy,” says Canucks GM Jim Benning. “He loves the Canucks. He’s great with the younger scouts. I know how he’s been portrayed but if you look at that 2011 team, he had a big part in drafting a lot of those players.”

And most every Canuck over the last 30 years. Delorme has worked the scouting game with Benning’s father Elmer, a longtime scout for Montreal, and the Canucks GM, who made his bones in that world. He’s worked with Hall-of-Famers and journeymen; big-time GMs and small-time bird dogs.

Along the way he’s lost some good friends: Ace Bailey died in a plane that crashed into the World Trade Tower on 9/11, Lorne Davis is gone, Charlie Hodge went a couple of years ago.

But Delorme, who’s worked for eight Vancouver GMs, is still standing.

“He’s well-respected,” says Benning. “He’s been doing it for a long time and he has a lot of friends in our game. That’s important. A lot of scouting is building relationships.”

As a player, Delorme was never confused with a goal scorer. He did score 20 with the dearly departed Colorado Rockies one year but his large notoriety was gained as a fighter and his signature scrap came against Chicago’s Grant Mulvey during the Canucks’ Stanley Cup run in ’82.

At the end of the first period, Mulvey came off the bench and took a run at Canucks defenceman Lars Lindgren. Delorme stepped in, bloodied Mulvey, and the Canucks went on to eliminate the Black Hawks in the Western Final.

“That identified him as a player,” says Benning. “And it’s the same with the scouts. He always sticks up for his teammates.”

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